Wearable electronic device accessory interface

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are presented for establishing a communication link between two or more electronic devices. A portable eyewear electronic device is configured to communicate with a handheld electronic device, such as a ring, that in turn is retained by an accessory electronic device to establish a wired communication link. The accessory electronic device may be retained or housed by a second accessory electronic device, such as a remote control or wearable device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 62/944,625 entitled WEARABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE ACCESSORY INTERFACE,filed on Dec. 6, 2019, the contents of which are incorporated fullyherein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Examples set forth in the present disclosure relate to portableelectronic devices, including wearable electronic devices such aseyewear. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, the presentdisclosure describes systems and methods for charging a handheldelectronic device such as a ring and communication with one or moreaccessory electronic devices such as a charging dock.

BACKGROUND

Many types of computers and electronic devices available today,including wearable devices, include accessory charging and communicationsystems. Accessory charging system are useful for charging computers andelectronic devices. Communication systems are useful for exchanginginformation with these devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features of the various implementations disclosed will be readilyunderstood from the following detailed description, in which referenceis made to the appending drawing figures. A reference numeral is usedwith each element in the description and throughout the several views ofthe drawing. When a plurality of similar elements is present, a singlereference numeral may be assigned to like elements, with an addedlower-case letter referring to a specific element.

The various elements shown in the figures are not drawn to scale unlessotherwise indicated. The dimensions of the various elements may beenlarged or reduced in the interest of clarity. The several figuresdepict one or more implementations and are presented by way of exampleonly and should not be construed as limiting. Included in the drawingare the following figures:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example hardware configuration of ahandheld electronic device that may be utilized with an eyewearelectronic device in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of an example hardwareconfiguration for a handheld electronic device (e.g., a smart ring) ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an example hardware configuration of anaccessory electronic device that may be utilized with the handheldelectronic device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a sectional top plan view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a sectional elevation view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example hardware configuration of theaccessory electronic device of FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 1in an example configuration with the accessory electronic device of FIG.4.

FIG. 9 is a sectional top plan view taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a side view of an example hardware configuration of aneyewear electronic device.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of an example communicationsystem including a handheld electronic device, eyewear electronicdevice, accessory electronic device, a second accessory electronicdevice, and a server system connected via various networks.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various implementations and details are described with reference toexamples. In one example a communication system includes an eyewearelectronic device, a handheld electronic device (e.g., a ring) having anelectronic communication interface, and an accessory electronic device(e.g., a docking station for the ring). The accessory device has a bodysized to substantially engage the handheld electronic device andincludes an electronic communication interface complementary to thehandheld electronic device communication interface for transferringsignals and/or power between the two devices when the respectivecommunication interfaces are in physical contact. The accessoryelectronic device may be incorporated, housed, or appended to a secondaccessory device, such as a wearable electronic device or remote controldevice. In addition to the communication system, the systems and methodsdescribed herein may be applied to and used with any of a variety ofsystems, especially those in which a user desires to establish a directcommunication link with a handheld electronic device and an accessorydevice for data and power transfer.

The following detailed description includes systems, methods,techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine programproducts illustrative of examples set forth in the disclosure. Numerousdetails and examples are included for the purpose of providing athorough understanding of the disclosed subject matter and its relevantteachings. Those skilled in the relevant art, however, may understandhow to apply the relevant teachings without such details. Aspects of thedisclosed subject matter are not limited to the specific devices,systems, and method described because the relevant teachings can beapplied or practice in a variety of ways. The terminology andnomenclature used herein is for the purpose of describing particularaspects only and is not intended to be limiting. In general, well-knowninstruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are notnecessarily shown in detail.

The term “connect”, “connected”, “couple” and “coupled” as used hereinrefers to any logical, optical, physical, or electrical connection,including a link or the like by which the electrical or magnetic signalsproduced or supplied by one system element are imparted to anothercoupled or connected system element. Unless described otherwise, coupledor connected elements or devices are not necessarily directly connectedto one another and may be separated by intermediate components,elements, or communication media, one or more of which may modify,manipulate, or carry the electrical signals. The term “on” meansdirectly supported by an element or indirectly supported by the elementthrough another element integrated into or supported by the element.

Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the examples willbe set forth in part in the following description, and in part willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of thefollowing and the accompanying drawings or may be learned by productionor operation of the examples. The objects and advantages of the presentsubject matter may be realized and attained by means of themethodologies, instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointedout in the appended claims.

Reference now is made in detail to the examples illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and discussed below.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of handheld electronic device 100. In theillustrated example, handheld electronic device (e.g., a smart ring) 100includes outer surface 102 and inner surface 104 with the distancebetween inner and outer surfaces defining a thickness, which may vary,such as to form, for example, an internal space 106, as shown. Ring 100further comprises first and second sides 108, 110 forming a width 112.The outer surface as illustrated includes touchpad 116, and the innersurface 104 includes charging and communication pins 114.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an example hardware configuration for ring100. The touchpad 116, as shown, may be sized and shaped to conformclosely to a portion of outer surface 102 of the ring 100. The ring 100may also include a lamp 118. The battery 120 may be sized and shaped tofit within the body of the ring 100, with connections to one or morecharging and communications pins 114. As shown, internal space 106(beneath pins 114 in this example) may house a variety of components,such as a touch driver 122, a touch controller 124, a short-rangetransceiver 126, a microcontroller 128, a memory 130, and an inertialmeasurement unit (IMU) 132, as shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a high-level functional block diagram of an example handheldelectronic device, e.g. smart ring 100. Ring 100, as shown, includes aninput device 116 (e.g., a touchpad), a lamp 118 (e.g., a light-emittingdiode), a touch driver 122, a touch controller 124, a short-rangetransceiver 126, a microcontroller 128, a memory 130, an inertialmeasurement unit (IMU) 132, a battery 120, and one or more charging andcommunications pins 114.

Forming a handheld electronic device wireless communication interface,ring 100 includes at least one short-range transceiver 126 that isconfigured for short-range network communication, such as via NFC, VLC,DECT, ZigBee, Bluetooth™, BLE (Bluetooth Low-Energy), or WiFi. Theshort-range transceiver(s) 126 may take the form of any availabletwo-way wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver of a type that iscompatible with one or more standard protocols of communicationimplemented in wireless local area networks. The handheld electronicdevice wireless communication interface is configured for communicationwith an eyewear communication interface.

The transceiver(s) 126 (i.e., the network communication interface)conforms to one or more of the various digital wireless communicationstandards utilized by modern mobile networks. Examples of transceiversinclude but are not limited to transceivers configured to operate inaccordance with Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and 3rd GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) network technologies including, for exampleand without limitation, 3GPP type 2 (or 3GPP2) and LTE, at timesreferred to as “4G.” For example, the transceivers 126 provide two-waywireless communication of information including digitized audio signals,still image and video signals, web page information for display as wellas web-related inputs, and various types of mobile messagecommunications to or from the ring 100.

The ring 100 may also include a global positioning system (GPS)receiver. Alternatively, or additionally, the ring 100 can utilizeeither or both the short-range transceiver(s) 126 for generatinglocation coordinates for positioning. For example, cellular network,WiFi, or Bluetooth™ based positioning systems can generate very accuratelocation coordinates, particularly when used in combination. Suchlocation coordinates can be transmitted to one or more portable eyewearelectronic devices 100, and/or to accessory electronic devices 400(e.g., see FIGS. 4 and 11), and to one or more second accessoryelectronic devices 600 (e.g., see FIG. 11) over one or more networkconnections via the transceiver(s) 126.

The ring 100 further includes a microcontroller 128 that functions as acentral processing unit (CPU) for the ring 100, as shown in FIG. 3. Aprocessor is a circuit having elements structured and arranged toperform one or more processing functions, typically various dataprocessing functions. Although discrete logic components could be used,the examples utilize components forming a programmable CPU. Amicroprocessor for example includes one or more integrated circuit (IC)chips incorporating the electronic elements to perform the functions ofthe microprocessor. The microcontroller 128, for example, may be basedon any known or available microprocessor architecture, such as a ReducedInstruction Set Computing (RISC) using an ARM architecture, as commonlyused today in mobile devices and other portable electronic devices. Ofcourse, other arrangements of processor circuitry may be used to formthe microcontroller 128 or processor hardware in smartphone, laptopcomputer, and tablet. The microcontroller 128 serves as a programmablehost controller by configuring the ring 100 to perform variousoperations such as instructions or programming executable by themicrocontroller 128. For example, such operations may include variousgeneral operations of the ring 100, as well as operations related to theprogramming for applications that reside on the ring 100. Although aprocessor may be configured by use of hardwired logic, typicalprocessors in mobile devices are general processing circuits configuredby execution of programming.

The ring 100 includes one or more memory elements 130 for storingprogramming and data. The memory 130 may include a flash memory, arandom-access memory (RAM), and/or other memory elements, as needed. Thememory 130 stores the programming and instructions needed to perform allor a subset of the functions described herein. The RAM, if present, mayoperate as short-term storage for instructions and data being handled bythe microcontroller 128. Depending on the particular type of handheldelectronic device, the ring 100 stores and runs an operating systemthrough which specific applications are executed. The operating systemmay be a mobile operating system, such as Google Android, Apple iOS,Windows Mobile, Amazon Fire OS, RIM BlackBerry OS, or the like.

In some examples, the ring 100 includes a collection of motion-sensingcomponents referred to as an inertial measurement unit 132. Themotion-sensing components may be micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)with microscopic moving parts, often small enough to be part of amicrochip. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) 132 in some exampleconfigurations includes an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and amagnetometer, to sense the acceleration, angular velocity, and headingof the ring 100 relative to magnetic north, respectively. The positionof the ring 100 may be determined by location sensors, such as a GPSreceiver, one or more transceivers to generate relative positioncoordinates, altitude sensors or barometers, and other orientationsensors. The IMU 132 may include or cooperate with a digital motionprocessor or programming that gathers the raw data from the componentsand compute a number of useful values about the position, orientation,and motion of the ring 100.

The ring 100 may optionally include additional peripheral sensors, suchas biometric sensors, specialty sensors, or display elements integratedwith the ring 100. For example, peripheral device elements may includeany I/O components including output components, motion components,position components, or any other such elements described herein. Forexample, the biometric sensors may include components to detectexpressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocalexpressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), to measure biosignals(e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, orbrain waves), or to identify a person (e.g., identification based onvoice, retina, facial characteristics, fingerprints, or electricalbiosignals such as electroencephalogram data), and the like.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an example hardware configuration of anaccessory electronic device 400 (e.g., a smart dock) utilized with ahandheld electronic device such as ring 100. Dock 400 comprises asubstantially rectangular body that includes a partial or completecircumferential groove (e.g., “ring groove”) 402 that defines a raisedcenter 403 sized to at least partially receive ring 100. The ring groove402 comprises inner wall 404 and outer wall 406. As shown in the exampleembodiment of FIG. 4, dock 400 may include at least one USB chargingport 408, at least one charging pin 410, at least one general-purposeinput/output (GPIO) 412, and a release mechanism (e.g., eject button)414, which as shown is located in raised center 403. In one aspect, thebottom 416 of the groove bottom may transition to a shoulder 418 that aside (108 or 110) of ring 100 may abut. In another aspect, charging pins410 may extend outwardly from inner wall 404 for contact with chargingand communication pins 114 of ring 100. Pins 114 of handheld electronicdevice 100 comprise, at least in part, a first electronic communicationinterface that is complementary to the second electronic communicationinterface of the accessory electronic device 400.

FIG. 5 is a top plan sectional view of the accessory electronic deviceof FIG. 4, which shows the relationship of the groove 402, raised center403 and release mechanism 414, as well as shoulder 418, in greaterdetail. FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of FIG. 4 also showingadditional detail.

FIG. 7 is a high-level functional block diagram of an example accessoryelectronic device, such as a ring dock 400, for simultaneouslytransferring power and communicating digital data to and from a handheldelectronic device such as shown in FIG. 1. Electronic device 700 caninclude control circuitry 702, storage 704, memory 706, input/output(“I/O”) circuitry 708, communications circuitry 710, battery 712, andbattery charger 714. In some examples, one or more of the components ofelectronic device 700 can be combined or omitted (e.g., storage 704 andmemory 706 may be combined).

In some examples, electronic device 700 can include other components notcombined or included in those shown in FIG. 7 (e.g., motion detectioncomponents, kinetics, a display, bus, a positioning system, etc.), orseveral instances of the components shown in FIG. 7. For the sake ofsimplicity, only one of each of the components is shown in FIG. 7.

Control circuitry 702 can include any processing circuitry or processoroperative to control the operations and performance of electronic device700. For example, control circuitry 702 can be used to run operatingsystem applications, firmware applications, media playback applications,media editing applications, or any other application. In some examples,control circuitry 702 can drive a display and process inputs receivedfrom a user interface.

Storage 704 can include, for example, one or more storage mediumsincluding a hard-drive, solid state drive, flash memory, permanentmemory such as ROM, any other suitable type of storage component, or anycombination thereof. Storage 704 can store, for example, media data(e.g., image and video files), application data (e.g., for implementingfunctions on electronic device 700), firmware, user preferenceinformation data (e.g., media playback preferences), authenticationinformation, lifestyle information data, wireless connection informationdata (e.g., information that can enable electronic device 700 toestablish a wireless connection), etc.

Memory 706 can include cache memory, semi-permanent memory such as RAM,and/or one or more different types of memory used for temporarilystoring data. In some examples, memory 706 can also be used for storingdata used to operate electronic device applications, or any other typeof data that can be stored in storage 704. In some examples, memory 706and storage 704 can be combined as a single storage medium.

I/O circuitry 708 can be operative to convert (and encode/decode, ifnecessary) analog signals and other signals into digital data. In someexamples, I/O circuitry 708 can also convert digital data into any othertype of signal, and vice-versa. For example, I/O circuitry 708 canreceive and convert physical contact inputs (e.g., from a multi-touchscreen), physical movements (e.g., from a sensor), analog audio signals(e.g., from a microphone), or any other input. The digital data can beprovided to and received from control circuitry 702, storage 704, memory706, or any other component of electronic device 700. Although I/Ocircuitry 708 is illustrated in FIG. 7 as a single component ofelectronic device 700, several instances of I/O circuitry 708 can beincluded in electronic device 700.

Electronic device 700 can include any suitable interface or componentfor allowing a user to provide inputs to I/O circuitry 708. For example,electronic device 700 can include any suitable input mechanism, such as,for example, a button, touchpad, or a touch screen. In some examples,electronic device 700 can include a capacitive sensing mechanism, or amulti-touch capacitive sensing mechanism.

In some examples, electronic device 700 can include specialized outputcircuitry associated with output devices such as, for example, one ormore audio outputs.

In some examples, I/O circuitry 708 can include display circuitry (e.g.,a screen or projection system) for providing a display visible to theuser. For example, the display circuitry can include a screen (e.g., anLCD screen) that is incorporated in electronics device 700. In someexamples, the display circuitry can include a coder/decoder (CODEC) toconvert digital media data into analog signals. For example, the displaycircuitry (or other appropriate circuitry within electronic device 700)can include video CODECs, audio CODECs, or any other suitable type ofCODEC.

The display circuitry also can include display driver circuitry,circuitry for driving display drivers, or both. The display circuitrycan be operative to display content (e.g., media playback information,application screens for applications implemented on the electronicdevice, information regarding ongoing communications operations,information regarding incoming communications requests, or deviceoperation screens) under the direction of control circuitry 702.Alternatively, the display circuitry can be operative to provideinstructions to a remote display.

Communications circuitry 710 can include any suitable communicationscircuitry operative to connect to a communications network and totransmit communications (e.g., voice or data) from electronic device 700to other devices within network 1104 via wired connection 1114 or viawireless connection 1116 such as via second accessory device 600 (seeFIG. 11). Communications circuitry 710 can be operative to interfacewith the communications network using any suitable communicationsprotocol such as, for example, Wi-Fi (e.g., a 802.11 protocol),Bluetooth, BLE (Bluetooth Low-Energy), radio frequency systems (e.g.,900 MHz, 1.4 GHz, and 5.6 GHz communication systems), infrared, GSM, GSMplus EDGE, CDMA, LTE and other cellular protocols, VOIP, or any othersuitable protocol.

In some examples, communications circuitry 710 can be operative tocreate a communications network using any suitable communicationsprotocol. For example, communications circuitry 710 can create ashort-range communications network using a short-range communicationsprotocol to connect to other devices. For example, communicationscircuitry 710 can be operative to create a local communications networkusing a Bluetooth protocol to couple electronic device 700 with aBluetooth headset or other Bluetooth enabled device.

Electronic device 700 can include one more instances of communicationscircuitry 710 for simultaneously performing several communicationsoperations using different communications networks, although only one isshown in FIG. 7 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. For example,electronic device 700 can include a first instance of communicationscircuitry 710 for communicating over a cellular network, and a secondinstance of communications circuitry 710 for communicating over Wi-Fi orusing Bluetooth. In some examples, the same instance of communicationscircuitry 710 can be operative to provide for communications overseveral communications networks.

In some examples, electronic device 700 can be coupled to a host devicefor data transfers, synching the communications device, software orfirmware updates, providing performance information to a remote source(e.g., providing riding characteristics to a remote server) orperforming any other suitable operation that can require electronicdevice 700 to be coupled to a host device. Several electronic devices700 can be coupled to a single host device using the host device as aserver. Alternatively, or additionally, electronic device 700 can becoupled to several host devices (e.g., for each of the plurality of thehost devices to serve as a backup for data stored in electronic device700).

In some examples, electronic device 700 includes a power linecommunication IC module with a digital interface (e.g., I²C) capable ofbidirectionally transferring power and digital data simultaneously fromor to ring 100 and, optionally, additional electronic devices such asthose comprising a remote controller in operable communication with dock400.

The battery 712 may be sized and shaped to fit within the body of thedock 400, with connections to one or more charging and communicationspins 410 and battery charger 714.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the handheld electronic device of FIG. 1in a retained (i.e., docked) position by the accessory device of FIGS.4-6. FIG. 9 is a top plan sectional view of FIG. 8 that furtherillustrates the relationship of the touchpad 116 while ring 100 is inits docked position. Touchpad 116 faces outwardly and is substantiallycoextensive with shoulder 418, such that touchpad 116 is accessible to auser during charging and/or communication while in the retained position(i.e., docked).

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, when ring 100 is ina retained position (i.e., docked) with dock 400, one or more contacts410 forming a second electronic communication interface are insubstantial contact with the first electronic communication interface ofring 100 that includes at least one charging/communication contact(s) orpin(s) 114 of ring 100 for providing auxiliary power, recharging thepower source and transferring data between the ring 100 and anotherdevice (such as eyewear electronic device 1000 or a second accessorydevice 600 (see FIGS. 10 and 11). When docked, a bidirectionalcommunication link is established that permits data transfer betweenring 100, dock 400, and, optionally, other devices that may be incommunication with dock 400, such as second accessory electronic device600 shown in FIG. 11.

FIG. 10 is a side view of an example hardware configuration of aneyewear electronic device 1000 utilized in an example of the handheldelectronic device of FIG. 1, as described herein. Eyewear electronicdevice 1000 includes an optical assembly 1002 with an image display anda chunk 1004 that includes a camera 1006 that captures imageinformation. Camera 1006 is coupled to or disposed on the flexible PCB140B and covered by a visible-light camera cover lens, which is aimedthrough an opening formed in the frame 1008. For example, the rim 1010of the frame 1008 is connected to the chunk and includes the opening forthe visible-light camera cover lens. Examples of suitable cameras 1006include a high-resolution complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)image sensor and a digital VGA camera (video graphics array). Theeyewear electronic device 1000 may capture image sensor data from thevisible-light camera along with geolocation data, digitized by an imageprocessor, for storage in a memory.

Disposed inside the chunk 1004 are various interconnected circuitboards, such as PCBs or flexible PCBs, that include controller circuitsfor camera 1006, microphone(s), low-power wireless circuitry (e.g., forwireless short-range network communication via Bluetooth™), high-speedwireless circuitry (e.g., for wireless local area network communicationvia WiFi).

Eyewear electronic device 1000 may include circuitry that includes aprocessor, memory, and wireless circuitry that forms part of an eyewearcommunication interface for communication with the handheld electronicdevice 100 or accessory electronic device 400, or both. The processormay be any processor capable of managing communications and operation ofany general computing system needed for eyewear electronic device 1000.The processor includes processing resources needed for managing datatransfers on wireless connection 1112 (see FIG. 11) to a wireless localarea network (WLAN) using wireless circuitry. In certain examples,wireless circuitry is configured to implement Institute of Electricaland Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 communication standards, alsoreferred to as Wi-Fi. In other examples, other high-speed communicationsstandards may be implemented by the wireless circuitry. The wirelesscircuitry of the eyewear device 100 can include short range transceivers(Bluetooth™) and wireless wide, local, or wide-area network transceivers(e.g., cellular or WiFi).

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of an example system 1100including a handheld electronic device 100 (e.g., a ring), an accessoryelectronic device 400 (e.g., a dock), a second accessory device 600, aneyewear electronic device 1000, and a server system 1102 connected viavarious networks 1104 such as the Internet. The eyewear electronicdevice 1000 includes components that allows it to collect data about theposition, orientation, and motion of the eyewear electronic device 1000and to cooperate with the ring 100 to execute desired functions. Asnoted above with regard to eyewear electronic device 1000, it compriseswireless communications circuitry to form an eyewear communicationsinterface that enables it to communicate with handheld electronic device100 via wireless connection 1110 and/or with accessory electronic device400 via wireless connection 1112.

The system 1100 may further utilize components of the accessoryelectronic device 400, and second accessory electronic device 600, andserver system 1102 to execute, process or communicate data to and fromeyewear electronic device 1000. In this aspect, functions of the system1100 can be shared or distributed across the eyewear electronic device1000, the ring 100, accessory electronic device 400, second accessoryelectronic device 600, or other accessory devices, and/or the serversystem 1102.

Any functionality for the eyewear electronic device 1000, the ring 100,the accessory device 400, second accessory electronic device 600, orother accessory devices, and the server system 1102 can be embodied inone more computer software applications or sets of programminginstructions. According to some examples, “function,” “functions,”“application,” “applications,” “instruction,” “instructions,” or“programming” are program(s) that execute functions defined in theprograms. Various programming languages can be employed to create one ormore of the applications, structured in a variety of manners, such asobject-oriented programming languages (e.g., Objective-C, Java, or C++)or procedural programming languages (e.g., C or assembly language). In aspecific example, a third-party application (e.g., an applicationdeveloped using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kit (SDK) byan entity other than the vendor of the particular platform) may includemobile software running on a mobile operating system such as IOS™,ANDROID™ WINDOWS® Phone, or another mobile operating systems. In thisexample, the third-party application can invoke API calls provided bythe operating system to facilitate functionality described herein.

Hence, a machine-readable medium may take many forms of tangible storagemedium. Non-volatile storage media include, for example, optical ormagnetic disks, such as any of the storage devices in any computerdevices or the like, such as may be used to implement the client device,media gateway, transcoder, etc. shown in the drawings. Volatile storagemedia include dynamic memory, such as main memory of such a computerplatform. Tangible transmission media include coaxial cables; copperwire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a bus within acomputer system. Carrier-wave transmission media may take the form ofelectric or electromagnetic signals, or acoustic or light waves such asthose generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) datacommunications. Common forms of computer-readable media thereforeinclude for example: a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetictape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD or DVD-ROM, any otheroptical medium, punch cards paper tape, any other physical storagemedium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM,any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave transporting data orinstructions, cables or links transporting such a carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer may read programming code and/ordata. Many of these forms of computer readable media may be involved incarrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to aprocessor for execution.

Except as stated immediately above, nothing that has been stated orillustrated is intended or should be interpreted to cause a dedicationof any component, step, feature, object, benefit, advantage, orequivalent to the public, regardless of whether it is or is not recitedin the claims.

It will be understood that the terms and expressions used herein havethe ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions withrespect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and studyexcept where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.Relational terms such as first and second and the like may be usedsolely to distinguish one entity or action from another withoutnecessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or orderbetween such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,”“includes,” “including,” or any other variation thereof, are intended tocover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article,or apparatus that comprises or includes a list of elements or steps doesnot include only those elements or steps but may include other elementsor steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. An element preceded by “a” or “an” does not,without further constraints, preclude the existence of additionalidentical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus thatcomprises the element.

Unless otherwise stated, any and all measurements, values, ratings,positions, magnitudes, sizes, and other specifications that are setforth in this specification, including in the claims that follow, areapproximate, not exact. Such amounts are intended to have a reasonablerange that is consistent with the functions to which they relate andwith what is customary in the art to which they pertain. For example,unless expressly stated otherwise, a parameter value or the like mayvary by as much as ±10% from the stated amount.

In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen thatvarious features are grouped together in various examples for thepurpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is notto be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed examplesrequire more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather,as the following claims reflect, the subject matter to be protected liesin less than all features of any single disclosed example. Thus, thefollowing claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description,with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subjectmatter.

While the foregoing has described what are considered to be the bestmode and other examples, it is understood that various modifications maybe made therein and that the subject matter disclosed herein may beimplemented in various forms and examples, and that they may be appliedin numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein.It is intended by the following claims to claim any and allmodifications and variations that fall within the true scope of thepresent concepts.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication system, comprising: an eyewearelectronic device comprising an eyewear communication interface; ahandheld electronic device comprising a wireless communication interfaceand a first electronic communication interface, the wirelesscommunication interface configured for communication with the eyewearelectronic device, wherein the handheld electronic device is a ringconfigured to be worn on a finger of a user; an accessory electronicdevice, wherein the accessory device comprises a body sized tosubstantially engage the handheld electronic device and comprises asecond electronic communication interface complementary to the firstelectronic communication interface for transferring at least one ofsignals or power therebetween when the handheld electronic device isreleasably engaged by the accessory electronic device; wherein the bodyof the accessory electronic device comprises a substantiallycircumferential groove sized to receive and releasably engage thering-shaped handheld electronic device.
 2. The communication system ofclaim 1, wherein the handheld electronic device and the accessoryelectronic device are in electronic communication in the absence of awireless connection therebetween.
 3. The communication system of claim1, wherein the accessory electronic device further comprises a wirelesscommunication interface, wherein the accessory communication interfaceis configured to communicate with the eyewear communication interface.4. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the accessory electronicdevice comprises a housing, wherein the handheld electronic device isreleasably engaged by the accessory electronic device or is at leastpartially contained within said housing.
 5. The communication system ofclaim 1, wherein the accessory electronic device is in electroniccommunication with a second accessory electronic device.
 6. Thecommunication system of claim 5, wherein the second accessory electronicdevice is a remote control electronic device.
 7. The communicationsystem of claim 5, wherein the second accessory electronic device is inelectronic communication with and configured to remotely control theeyewear electronic device.
 8. The communication system of claim 1,wherein the electronic communication interface comprises at least onecontact for engagement with at least one corresponding contact on thehandheld electronic device.
 9. The communication system of claim 1,wherein the accessory electronic device further comprises: a battery forstoring power; and a retainer mechanism that releasably engages thehandheld electronic device.
 10. The communication system of claim 1,wherein the ring comprises one or more of: an input device, atransceiver, and an inertial measurement unit.
 11. The communicationsystem of claim 10, wherein the substantially circumferential grooveincludes a portion lacking an outer wall.
 12. The communication systemof claim 11, wherein the handheld electronic device has an outer surfacecomprising an input device that remains accessible to a user while thehandheld electronic device is in releasable engagement by the accessoryelectronic device.
 13. A method of establishing a communication link,comprising: providing an eyewear electronic device configured forwireless communication; providing a handheld electronic deviceconfigured for wireless communication with the eyewear electronic deviceand further comprising a first electronic communication interface havingat least one electrical contact, wherein the handheld electronic deviceis a ring configured to be worn on a finger of a user; providing anaccessory electronic device comprising a body and having a secondelectronic communication interface having at least one electricalcontact for engagement with at least one contact on the handheldelectronic device, wherein the body of the accessory electronic devicecomprises a substantially circumferential groove sized to receive andreleasably engage the ring-shaped handheld electronic device, releasablyengaging the handheld electronic device by inserting it in the accessoryelectronic device; and establishing the communication link between theeyewear electronic device and the accessory electronic device.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising the step of: transferring signalsand power between the handheld electronic device and the accessoryelectronic device.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the accessoryelectronic device is in electronic communication with a second accessoryelectronic device to form a second communication link.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the second communication link is wired.
 17. The methodof claim 15, wherein the second accessory electronic device is a remotecontrol electronic device.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein thesecond accessory electronic device is in electronic communication withthe eyewear electronic device.